Carrot Cake...for Breakfast?

When it comes to cake, there are few flavors I prefer over a dense, moist, and oh-so-tasty slice of carrot cake. I love my carrot cake loaded with the "extras:" walnuts, pineapple, lots of carrot, and a thick layer of homemade cream cheese frosting. Hungry yet?

Although I would never consider having a slice of the aforementioned carroty-goodness for breakfast, I had no problem enjoying Adam's "Carrot Cake Pancakes" for breakfast this morning. We spotted the recipe in Cooking Light this winter, but had not yet experimented with it (banana and berry pancakes have been the theme around here for the past few months). After this morning's test batch though, I can say with great certainty that these pancakes will enter the weekend breakfast rotation.

A few notes on variations:

• I LOVE toasted nuts of all kinds. We added more than the recipe indicates, but you can eliminate them altogether if you're not a nut-head like me :)
• Toppings: We mixed 3 TBSP of butter and 2TBSP of honey (split between us) to top our pancakes. Yum-O! You could also top them with syrup, natural nut butter, bananas, or whipped cinnamon cream cheese.

Carrot Cake Pancakes (adapted from Cooking Light recipe, January 2010 issue)

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups flour

1/4 cup chopped, toasted walnuts

2 teaspoons baking powder1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Dash of ground ginger

1/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup skim milk

1 TBSP canola oil

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

2 large eggs

2 cups finely grated carrot

Directions:

1) Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl.

2) Combine remaining ingredients in a medium-size bowl. Gently add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, stirring until combined.

3) Coat griddle with cooking spray (or, use butter to grease if you prefer), and heat griddle to 350 degrees.

4) Spoon batter in 1/4 cup measurements onto the griddle and spread with a spatula. Cook until top is covered with bubbles (approximately 2 minutes), and then flip. Cook until bottom is lightly browned.

5) Top with your favorite topping (We used honey butter).

6) Revel in the carroty-goodness of your breakfast :)